Friday Hound Blogging

You know, the holiday season is a time to put aside differences, seek out common ground and join in celebration of what brings us together. We exchange gifts, wish each other well and mostly mean it, and we resolve to somehow be better people in the coming year.

And it is in that spirit that we would like to wish good tidings to the overlords. Admittedly, we do not have a gift to give, but perhaps we can facilitate an exchange. Bo Guidry, is the senior vice president and general manager for Horseshoe and Harrah’s Council Bluffs, Iowa. Now we all know how casinos like to give away things, so we're going to call on his generosity ask that, in our stead he be Santa for the overlords. Mr. Guidry, what say you sir?

“We’re losing $9 million a year,” said Guidry. “We want to get rid of the dogs.”

Hey! Whoa, hang on there Mr. Guidry. That's pretty Grinchy of you. Where's your holiday spirit? OK, general Scroogeness aside, we would like to offer one point of clarification. It's not the dogs you want to get rid of Mr. Guidry, it's the overlords. People like dogs.

“We do 15 races a day,” Guidry said. However, the dogs mostly race before empty seats, which don’t bring in revenue.

 Leave the sarcasm to us, OK? Besides, you can't blame the empty seats on the dogs. They run just as hard and get hurt just as badly whether anyone is watching or not. Unless of course they get killed outright, but you still can't blame them for that. They don't now they're just commodities, put in harm's way so the two legged parasites back in the clubhouse can avoid honest labor.

During Tuesday’s racing as he toured the track with local lawmaker Mark Brandenburg, Guidry began counting the people in the clubhouse area that has a 1,800-patron capacity. The count didn’t take long. “There are approximately 50 people,” he said. That was 50 more than in the lower level grandstand that seats 400 or the 700-seat outdoor bench area. “Look at all the empty seats,” Brandenburg said. Actually, one seat was taken. It belonged to Lynn Reid, security officer. “A big crowd here is three or four people,” he said.

Well that's not surprising. We mean, who wants to come out for an evening's entertainment and see this?

From January 2011 through July 2012 eighteen greyhounds were euthanized at Bluffs Run.

 Not exactly the same as hitting triple cherries on the progressive slots is it?

Guidry can’t just turn off the lights, however. Approval by the Iowa Legislature is needed, and the lawmakers there have rejected proposals in the last three years to allow casinos to pay millions of dollars annually to the state for the right to shut down their dog tracks. “We have offered the state an x amount of dollars in lieu of paying purses,” Guidry said. Not only could that money go to education or roads, but the track – because of its close proximity to Interstate 29/80 – is ripe for retail development and all the jobs and tax revenue that goes with it, he said.

Hmm...shut down the track, get money for schools and roads, and develop the land providing jobs and services. Now that's a gift worth giving, huh CC?

CC is a six year old girl who never raced and has been returned because her owner could no longer care for her. She likes kids, other dogs and cats. For more information about this dog, and other rescued racing greyhounds looking for homes, go here. If you don't know about the plight of racing greyhounds go here.